Projects and Products to Make the World a Happier Place. Jennifer Heynen designs sewing patterns, craft kits, quilting fabric, licenses her art to companies for Garden Flags, Bags, Accessories and more all in a Happy and Bright Style.

Jennifer Jangles

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

I mentioned on social media that I had been playing around with Thermoweb's new Deco Foil, let me tell you this stuff is fun! I guess it was a huge hit at CHA and there's been lots of buzz around the web about it. Since I design projects for Thermoweb, I got to play with some ahead of time. You can head over to the Thermoweb blog for the tutorial and pattern for these zipper pouches.

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Hey, Hey, so this is exciting to me.... and hopefully to you as well. :) I'm on the hunt for some helpers.

Would you like to work with me on all sorts of happy projects?

Here's what I am looking for....

I am looking for sorts of sewers and crafters of all experience levels who are interested in helping me test and showcase my products. This could include sewing with my new fabric lines before they are released, testing my sewing or other craft patterns and kits, guest blogging with projects, and more.

Are you interested? Fill this survey out and I will be in touch in a few weeks, once the survey closes.

Monday, January 26, 2015

Hey, Hey! I was taking lots of photos yesterday and thought I would snap a few of my latest project. Embroidery has been my new nightly project. I like to have a sit around project for the evenings or when I am waiting to pick a kid up from some activity, you know, something portable.

I decided to use some of my drawings from my new line of Bugapalooza fabric to play around with. I don't have an end project in mind. I might sew it in to a project or I might leave it in the hoop, haven't decided that one yet.

To transfer the design to my fabric, I used my new Friction pens that I got from my son for Christmas, thanks Fletch! They are super cool, made by pilot, and can be found in office stores. They erase with heat. I do notice a bit f a white line left after ironing but with the embroidery covering the lines up anyway, I think they are perfect for this. If you are curious, I posted a little video on instagram of the pen in action.

Friday, January 23, 2015

Look what just arrived in the mail.... Bugapalooza strike offs. Whats a strike off, you ask? Well in the fabric printing world, the mill takes the design files that we (In The Beginning Fabrics and I) send the mill. The mill does a first round of printing the designs on fabric. They screen print small pieces of the design and these are to make sure the colors are correct.

Think about if the mill just printed thousands and thousands of yards and it was the wrong color, yikes! Strike offs are usually sent once, notes are made about color changes and sent back. Then a second round of strike offs are sent. Usually that's all that needs to be done, every now and then a third round is required.

These strike offs are for my Bugapalooza fabric line that is arriving in stores in April. This is the first round of strike offs and they turned out really great. Every single one needs to be examined for printing flaws and color changes.

Over the next few weeks, I will start planning out what patterns and projects I want to sew with these prints. This gives me a head start so when the yardage arrives I am ready and don't have to think about a thing and I can begin sewing.

In the meantime, I will start sewing some smaller projects with these, because seriously, receiving strike offs is like being a kid on Christmas morning.

Sunday, January 18, 2015

Alrighty, here is the first of what I promise to be many new sewing patterns this year. Right now Little Love Bunny is available as a PDF but he'll be in print down the road....just have to get a few more ready for the printer first so I can send them all off at once.

Little Love Bunny makes a cute little gift for Valentines Day or any day.

For some reason I couldn't sew just one, I made nine. They were super fun to sew, and quick, and I'm probably weird but when I sew I like to sew a lot of things all at once. I must have an inner production worker needing to get out.

He's got lop-sided ears and a off center nose to give him character. I was picturing a child's drawing when I designed him. His eyes are 1/4" buttons but could easily be stitched on with floss for a younger child.

Friday, January 16, 2015

This fun project is already in use at our house. It's on the coffee table and a quick game of tic tac toe can be played at any minute.

Here's how to sew this one up just in time for a Valentines gift for your sweetie.

First, I made the game board and to do this, I basically made a mini quilt. Sew up a nine patch quilt block using 3 1/2" squares. Make a quilt sandwich with batting and backing and quilt it.

I chose to quilt mine in a sort of a "off to the sides back and forth stitch in the ditch" method. I'm not one for straight lines but I wanted to keep it looking like a tic tac toe board.

Add some binding and you're finished with the board.

You need five of each game piece to make sure you have enough if there isn't a winner right away. You can find printable pattern pieces here for the heart and circle. I even included a 3 1/2" block just in case you're new to quilting and don't have a ruler.

Cut five sets of hearts and five sets of circles. Sew around the outside using a 1/4" seam. The bags can be filled with fiberfill or sand. I chose to use sand to have some weight.

I keep a bag of sand in my studio with a little funnel for projects just like these.

Once they are filled up hand stitch the opening closed. Don't be tempted to do this on your machine, sand will fall out and it won't be good for it. I stitched around the bag a second time as well.

Thursday, January 15, 2015

Hey, Hey, How's January going for you? I have been hunkered down in the studio working on all kinds of new stuff. Loads of sewing, shop updates, pattern writing, fabric designing....I could go on and on. There are lots of fun projects and things happening in 2015 that I can't wait to share with you.

First up, is a shop update. After the holidays, I have to admit, the place is a bit of a mess. I am cleaning up and rearranging to make things easier for you.

As you know, I send out a free project every month in my newsletter and most of the time I get asked for kits and supplies to make the project. I have struggled in the past with knowing how many kits to make up or if you would just have the supplies already at home to make the project. Because my goal here at Jennifer Jangles is to get you sewing and crafting and having fun. I try my best to make that as easy as possible.

My first shop improvement of the year is my Trims and Notions sections. They are new and are being stocked with the things you need to complete projects you've seen here on the blog as well as your own projects.

I've spent all week adding new ribbons and trims

and Buttons and felt balls

and other goodies to the shop.

I hope you like them, as I will be adding more options throughout the year.

One more thing and then you can get started looking around..... Fabric Samplers. Over the past three years of selling fabric I have been collecting bolt ends, remnants, etc. I also get a lot of odd shaped pieces when I cut fabric for kits too. Well that pile was getting so big that something needed to be done. I started by playing around with some scrappy combinations and decided to make some sampler packs. They have three yards of fabric in them, some larger pieces and some smaller. I cleared my stack of extra fabric to make these and you'll most likely have to wait another three years to get some more. :)

If you take a look around and see that there is something you would like me to offer that's not in the shop, please let me know. I always love hearing from you.

Monday, January 12, 2015

Hello, Hello! Thank you so much for voting for your favorite animal. I got loads of votes and as promised here are the results of the What's Your Favorite Animal Survey? Dogs were the overwhelming winner, and I think I would agree dogs are my favorite as well.

You were probably figuring out why I was asking this question as well, there are some more animal patterns in the works. I gave you a little sneak peek above. When I design patterns, I have to sew them to see them. Every now and then I can draw a pattern out and it actually turns out how I imagined, but most of the time I have to sew it and design as I go. I have a giant tub of animals and other patterns I have started over the past few years. Sometimes I have to let them sit awhile before I know how to move on with it.

Thursday, January 1, 2015

Hey, Hey, Happy New Year! I hope everyone has gotten to take some time off and rest and relax with friends and family. We have officially rung in 2015 and I have to say I am excited for this year. But, I always like to look back and think about all that happened in 2014.

One of the Heynen family's big projects for 2014 was rebuilding a 1969 Serro Scotty. It started in the fall of 2013 and continued until June 2014. It was a HUGE undertaking. I showed some of the rebuild in January here.

February was spent working on things behind the scenes and stocking the shop back up. I made lots of these embellishments among other things to show up later in the year.

We spent a week in March working on our camper, I called it Glamping Week.

In April, I debuted some new sewing patterns, cleaned my studio, and took the camper for a test run. It was a busy month.

In May, I fired my kiln in what would be one of the last times in awhile, my fabric and pattern designing has proven to be a bigger love of mine these days and in more demand of my time.

In June, I started gearing up for our big trip out west. I made and packed my craft suitcase.

Book: Sew Small

BOOK: Stitch Kitsch

BOOK: Extraordinary Colors

BOOK: Ceramic Bead Jewelry

Featured Post

Blog Categories

Etsy

Camper Kits

Affiliate Link Information

Jennifer Jangles uses affiliate programs from time to time for income. These are links that lead to Amazon, Craftsy, and others. This helps me be able to bring you free projects. I never link to anything that I don't personally use or recommend, you can be sure of that. I take this very seriously. As always, please contact me if you have questions.